·South Korea suspends Panmunjom tours in DMZ as part of efforts
to contain African swine fever

South Korea confirms 2 more swine fever cases

San Francisco Chronicle

Oct. 2, 2019

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Wednesday
confirmed two additional cases of African swine fever near its border with
North Korea despite heightened efforts to contain the epidemic that has wiped
out pig populations across Asia.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said
lab tests confirmed the country's 10th and 11th cases of the disease at two
farms in Paju, a border town where the first infection was confirmed on Sept.
17.

Officials have been scrambling to halt the spread of the
disease, disinfecting farms, trucks and roads, banning livestock movement and
destroying some 93,500 pigs. They plan to slaughter at least 17,000 more pigs,
including the animals at farms within a 3-kilometer (2-mile) radius of the two
Paju farms were infections were newly confirmed.

The illness is harmless to humans but highly fatal for
pigs. There is no effective vaccine or treatment.

Officials have yet to determine where the disease came
from, but a likely source is North Korea, which reported an outbreak near its
border with China in May.

North Korea in recent months has suspended virtually all
cooperation with the South amid a standstill in nuclear negotiations with the
United States, which complicated efforts to prevent the disease from reaching
the inter-Korean border area.

In a closed-door parliamentary briefing last week, South
Korean spy chief Suh Hoon used charts to explain that the disease has spread to
nearly all parts of North Korea, according to lawmakers who attended the
session...

Two new cases of African swine fever (ASF) were confirmed
Wednesday in Paju, Gyeonggi, the original outbreak site, eight days after the
last confirmed case in the region.

The confirmations brought the total number of infected
sites to 11. The government ordered a new 48-hour lockdown, effective until
3:30 a.m. on Friday, on pig farms, slaughterhouses, feed factories and related
vehicles in Gyeonggi, Gangwon and Incheon.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Affairs, the 10th infected site reported suspicions of the disease on Tuesday
after one female pig died and four other pigs showed signs of appetite loss, a
symptom of the disease. The illness on the 11th farm was identified during a
precautionary government inspection on Tuesday.

The new sites are close to a Paju farm confirmed to be
infected with ASF on Sept. 24 - 7.8 kilometers (4.8 miles) away in the case of
the 10th farm and 5.2 kilometers in the case of the 11th.

The government is set to cull over 14,000 pigs at the
10th site and at nine farms within a 3-kilometer radius and 2,603 pigs at the
11th confirmed site and two farms in its proximity.

That will bring the total number of pigs culled since the
outbreak began to over 110,000, or 1 percent of the total number of pigs in
Korea.

The latest confirmations heighten concerns that the
disease could still be spreading. The ninth infected farm was confirmed on
Sept. 27 in Ganghwa County in Incheon.

Paju had been under strong containment measures as the
original outbreak site. The region came under multiple 48-hour lockdowns and
had been designated a special management region, undergoing extensive
fumigation measures.

The virus has only infected farms in the northern parts
of Gyeonggi.

On Sunday the government was on full alert when a farm in
South Chungcheong was suspected of being infected. However, the test results
were negative. The spread of the virus to South Chungcheong would have been
serious as 20 percent of the pigs raised in Korea are raised in the province.

Individuals who violate the lockdown face a one-year
prison sentence or a fine of up to 10 million won ($8,300).

The government even ordered a ban on guns to poach wild
boar in the border area, in case the hunting encouraged infected wild animals
to roam further...